Lately, I found that I seem to have a soundtrack in my head or playing in the background while curating my blogposts… This, to others might seem unrelated but to me, it is “all part of the art”

What have you been up to this week?

Quickie: Today’s soundrack for curating this post is Westlife’s version of “Angel”

Spend all your time waiting for that second chance… for a break that would make it okay…

were the first lyrics to linger in my head while I pondered about how to start today’s post.

A moment of silence of empathy for every writer/blogger who has ever passed through this phase; the struggling phase of penning or keying down the first words…

If you participated in the #silentmoment however brief, regardless I must say Thank you for obliging me.

How I Made It To The Vision Board Party

I wrapped up my shoot of the Jo Dress at about 10am, on saturday February 2nd, 2019; decided to go to Papparoti for breakfast, unfortunately they don’t open until 11am on the weekends even though their instagram description states otherwise.

I was so tired and hungry, which made the wait feel so much longer… After my intriguing breakfast, I tried to make it home to relieve myself off the props and wardrobe from the shoot to make it back in town for #TBA Vision board party.

Unfortunately I encountered some unpredictable traffic at 5th Avenue for over 40mins,( you can’t possibly imagine my annoyance and anxiety right now, unless you’re familiar with this route; then you might perhaps, be able to get an idea of what I mean.)

I sincerely can’t say how I made it through those frustrating minutes without losing it. But yes, I got out, made it home, dropped off the baggage, gave Apollo a kiss and dashed out immediately.

Long story short i found myself back at Millennium Park at 12:20pm for an event scheduled for noon.

Well, glad I made it here without being so terribly late as I had feared,- I thought to myself and tothe cab man i said“so oga, how much is my money now?” and hesaid“madam your money is #14,000 .00k” which is $40 at 350/$.

“You say?” I asked as though hoping that I’d heard something differently from what he said but he repeated the same amount, at this point I was very weak, I tried to renegotiate and explain that the traffic wasn’t my fault and that we should meet each other halfway where we both won’t be at such great loss to say the least, but to my surprise, the pleasant cabbie whom I’d shared most of my morning with suddenly now turns aggressive and speaking in a different tone i didn’t quite recognise. Eventually he insisted, he wouldn’t collect anything less than #12,000 , seeing that there was no way of reasoning with him; I paid him and made my way into the park.

At this time it was already 12:53pm as I made my way through the park, hanging on every word from Tonye’s description about the exact spot they all were, I analysed my day thus far, my hustle as a blogger/influencer while making my way…

I wondered if I’d chosen right, if all the stress and money i spend on this hustle is even right…

So many questions and so many answers both logical and unacceptable to my reality ransacked my head filling me with encouragement, hope and despair all at thesame time.

…in this sweet madness and oh the glorious sadness that brings me to my knees…

I couldn’t just stop calculating how that money I paid the cabbie could have done alot more for me if my car was intact, this made me rather sad and the thought of the expenses with the suffering that would ensue me the next couple of days until the car is fixed scared me more.

Quickie: if you go about your day and job daily without a car and rely solemnly or uber and other type of cab services in Nigeria, I just want to say I appreciate you and that “you are richer” than most of us with cars but you just don’t know it. Imagining the cab expenses for a month made me appreciate my Volvo all the more and now I just couldn’t wait to fix it.

Finally, my scattered dejected thoughts are interrupted by lots of pretty warm faces all seated sparsely on mats laid on the very green grass, surrounded by cute minimal decorations which was done by MindofAmaka,Theblackwriter and Sikethemakeupartist, if other people assisted, i can’t say for sure but these were the hands i found on deck upon my arrival.

…pulled from the wreckage of my silent reverie…

I felt my cheeks broader and my lips flat, pupils dileting with my eyes roving over heads with such intensity and curiosity as though I was looking for a specific person, I guess my brain was just working its way to find a familiar face.

“Hi…”, i said, realising now that my cheeks feeling broader was just me smiling so boldly with warm cheer like i was the happiest girl who just arrived, I suddenly couldn’t remember any of the thoughts I’d had prior to, except now that I have just one…

well Joyner, if you are very certain about anything right now, it’s the fact that you made a good decision committing to this event and most of all, taking action to be present, “don’t worry baby girl, it’s gonna be a good one.”

I thought quietly to myself whilst exchanging pleasantries. As I learned some new names and made my way to my own mat, I realised my day was about to turn around in an explosively positive way I never would have imagined.

Shortly after, a couple more faces arrived and the memorable Saturday of my first vision board party began.

The Bloggers Advocate (TBA) is a tribe constituting of an association of bloggers with various niche from different parts of Nigeria and some parts of the world. This was my first time attending any of their events and I came across the ad on MindofAmakainstastory.

has a 21 Days Blogger Challenge which begins on the 10th of March, 2019. If you’re just starting out your blog or already an experienced blogger or you just love to write and would like to join in the challenge, you can do that by reaching out Here.

We took turns introducing our ourselves,

brands and challenges we face in our daily endeavours while anyone in the audience with experiences in such departments proffered possible solutions and suggestions they had tried before that could help.

The munchies

As you know, organising any party however depending on the size is not successfully complete without the presence of small chops/finger foods and for most large parties “jollof rice” (I think it’s like a Nigerian thing, we are passionate about food like that). We enjoyed some finger licking wings, Pringles, popcorn, small chops and soda, female Preye( see Quickie below for female preye reference )gave me a cup of cold water that was so refreshing I said a prayer of blessings for her.

Quickie: Y’all remember Preye? the guy who nominated me first on the Bellanaija Abuja Bloggers instagram post which i won a spot. See post here incase you missed it. So G.preye is actually the baby sister to Preye and believe me they look so much alike hence the nickname.

The Vision Board

A vision board is a visual list or collage you create from cutting out relevant materials from mostly old magazines, books or pictures from an old album, sourveneirs from previous trips or places you wish to visit and you stick them on to a board by use of various stationaries of choice as a guide to curating your goals and making it a visual stimulation or motivation to achieving such goals.

As we all got down to creating, for a moment everywhere was blissful and serene, or maybe that was just all up in my head, I spent so much time arranging my vision in reality,Ashley and i ended up being the last ones to finish with very minimal goals highlighted… we sure had a good laugh about it, posed confidently with our boards and we called it a day at 6:15pm (I on the other hand went home to complete the list on my board).

February 02, 2019 is definitely a day that left an impressionable mark on the hearts of women and waiman present… Need i say I commend the courage of Waiman for being so free and totally himself at an event he was the only male blogger in attendance.

You’re in the arms of the angel… may you find some comfort here.

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Would you like me to create a step by step post on how and what you need to create your own vision board? if this something you’d very much like please feel free to leave your thoughts below in the comment section or on the Q&A highlight section of my MSJ’s instagram.

Hmmmm,
imagine how I felt paying that money, especially as the man sounded like he was going to start creating a scene, sigh… thank Jehovah it’s in the past now.
Thank you so much love for visiting the blog and sharing your thoughts

Thank you so much Mr Ayo for visiting my blog today and sharing your thoughts.
However I’d like to encourage to subscribe by entering your email, so you’d be able to get our newsletter first hand. I hope you engaging more with you.
Enjoy the rest of your day.

12k? That’s s lot. What was the distance? I’d love to attend a vision board party someday . Maybe u should organise one for we non bloggers. Been seeing alot of vision boards of late and i’ll love to try it out. Should put a lot into perspective for me. Well done Jo, u are a brilliant writer. Interesting to read 👌

Thank you so much darling for taking the time out to visit the blog today,
You Effort is deeply appreciated,
Yes oh 12k but he wasn’t charging me for distance covered rather for time spent.
I will definitely consider arranging a vision board party like you requested soon,
Details will be announced on instastory.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and don’t forget to subscribe for the opportunity or getting our newsletters, posts and giveaway reviews first hand. Have a lovely day.

Thank you Michael, I appreciate your thoughts and most importantly your taking the time to visit my blog today,
Please don’t forget to subscribe to enjoy the benefits of getting our newsletter and giveaway reviews first hand.

Hmmmm my dear, that ship have sailed oh, I found it more outrageous than you do. And thank you so much for visiting my blog please don’t forget to subscribe, so you’d always get our newsletter and any giveaway infos first hand.

I did oh, I almost crier myself but the tears refused to come down… Thank you, and the pleasure is all mine, you ladies are unique beautiful souls and I have met your kind in a while so I am very glad I have you guys.

Awwwwn thank you so much for sharing your thoughts
I will definitely create a step by step how to create a vision board to help all who are interested in creating their own, because better late than never.

I almost cried, but I couldn’t…lmao
It was really nice meeting you too and you see I didn’t forget that water,
A picture of my finished board is the 2nd slide on my Instagram post,
But I can still share it with you in your dm